Thousands of Spiders Take over Australian Town

After a week of record rain, floodwaters across eastern Australia have forced the ground-dwelling spiders—and at least 13,000 people—to flee their homes, according to Reuters.

The rampant webs blanketing vast stretches of Wagga Wagga are likely “a dispersal mechanism that allows spiders to move out of places where they’d surely be drowned,” said Robert Matthews, a professor emeritus of entomology at the University of Georgia.